MJ McGinn πŸ”ˆ

a recipe for falling asleep without thinking about your ex-girlfriend

After the recipe writing challenge.

Ingredients: dreams (stubborn
things with soft teeth)
self-loathing (all the hair you’ve lost since
you last kissed will do in a pinch)
peach pits (to remember
where you came from)

Step one: write her name in the air
with your finger little
hearts above little eyes

Step two: set something meaningful on fire, stir regularly

Step three: dance with your comforter like it’s trying to drown you

Step four: keep dancing until you reach a boil, you’ll notice
bubbles and salt spilling from your wounds (if you don’t
notice this, increase the temperature)

Step five: do not go looking
through the shoebox in your closet, forget-me-nots live there
and they’re hungry

Step six: close your eyes, you can’t
smell smoke, there’s no one
else here, you’re alive

Author Reading

About the Author

M. J. McGinn received his MFA from Adelphi University and was a VCCA resident in 2019. His work has been named to the Wigleaf 50 best very short stories of 2017 and has previously appeared in the Guernica/PEN flash series, New Flash Fiction Review, Lost Balloon, Bridge Eight, and elsewhere. He lives in Philadelphia.